Much like its original counterpart, the Chaos Blade drains health from its wielder with every successful hit. However, it deals very high damage with each swing, making it a popular choice for PvP or against tougher enemies. The two-handed strong attacks, if they connect, can inflict devastating amounts of damage in the blink of an eye, especially if the weapon is buffed with either resins or spells.

The high damage, along with its ability to be infused and augmented, means that the Chaos Blade can be used for almost any build, providing the high Dexterity requirement and self-damage are not too off-putting.

The Chaos Blade has the highest counter strength of all available katanas, on par with the Lances.

Infusing the Chaos Blade with an elemental type (fire, magic, lightning, or dark) will split the damage evenly, meaning both the physical attack and the attack of the element chosen will be equal to each other. This can be both positive and negative, as the lower physical damage will result in enemies sustaining less damage if they are resistant to the element of choice. However, buffing the weapon with a spell that complements the secondary damage type (I.E. using Sunlight Blade on a Lightning Chaos Blade) will result in a much more formidable weapon for the duration of the effect.

Hitting an opponent while they are invulnerable, such as when rolling or interacting with certain objects, will still activate the self-damage.